Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the influential echelons of the party remain a largely male domain. For ex-
ample, only a handful of the great scientists celebrated in a long photographic
mural at Shanghai's Science and Technology Museum are women.
High-profile, successful Chinese businesswomen are very much in the pub-
lic eye, but the relative lack of career opportunities for females in other fields
also indicates a continuing bias against women in employment. Women in
today's China enjoy more freedom than ever before, but sexual discrimination
in the workplace continues to survive.
In traditional China, an ideal woman's behaviour was governed by the 'three
obediences and four virtues' of Confucian thought (
Click here
). The three
obediences were submission to the father before marriage, husband after mar-
riage and sons in the case of widows. The four virtues were propriety in beha-
viour, demeanour, speech and employment.
After 1949, the Communist Party tried to outlaw old customs and place wo-
men on equal footing with men. As a result it abolished arranged marriages
and encouraged women to get an education and join the workforce. Women
were allowed to keep their maiden name upon marriage and leave their prop-
erty to their children. In its quest for equality during this period however, the
Communist Party seemed to 'desexualise' women, fashioning instead a kind of
idealised worker/mother/peasant paradigm.
Women's improved social status today has meant that more women are put-
ting off marriage until their late 20s or early 30s, choosing instead to focus on
their education and career opportunities.
This has been enhanced by the rapid rise in house prices, further encour-
aging women to leave marriage (and having children) till a later age. Premarit-
al sex and cohabitation before marriage are increasingly common in larger cit-
ies and lack the stigma they had several years ago.
As in other areas, a strong rural-urban divide exists and all is not well down
on the farm. Urban women are far more optimistic and freer, while women
from rural areas, where traditional beliefs are at their strongest, fight an uphill
battle against discrimination. Rural China is heavily weighted against girls,
while a marked preference for baby boys over baby girls endures. This has
resulted in an imbalance between China's population of men to women, a con-
sequence of female foeticide, selective abortions and even infanticide. China's
